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The Condition Of Our Condition Articles on the Human condition and how we might improve it.
Few of the tools available to us that are designed to help us bring about needed changes in our
personality or even our basic spiritual makeup are as powerful and versatile as meditation. It
could be said that this is the master key that can potentially open all the doors to all the
mysteries that have eluded a species that have chosen to exclusively pursue the material reality
rather than the spiritual reality. But what is it about meditation that seems to hold such promise?
Throughout time all those who deal with power have eventually found themselves looking at
meditation. All the worlds great organized religions have used this tool as a means of
exploring the spiritual world, and today more and more ordinary people are considering
meditation simply for its practical uses, for example; reducing and controlling everyday
stress and even recurring and general anxiety. But even in the professional world where
competition has reached new definitions of ridiculousness which in turn is demanding that
we perform on absurd level of productivity, that we turn to this almost magical tool to help
us develop the capacity for attention and concentration that are the components of the ability
to contemplate which in turn allow us to reach ever deeper levels of understanding.
So, here is a tool that seems to be equally useful across realities. It is handy in the spiritual
world as well as the material world. Of course there are not many standing in line to use it to
explore the spiritual reality, which does not reflect well on our species. But on the other hand
the line waiting to use it as a practical tool is growing exponentially, which is a very hopeful
sign.
Regardless of what you intend to use this tool for, there are some caveats that may produce strange side effects. The first reality is that any tool this versatile and powerful will not be mastered easily, although it can, depending on the original condition of the person attempting to master it. But for most of us, learning how to use this tool is a difficult challenge, and what is worse, it takes time, and in an instant gratification world, patience hasn't reached epidemic proportions and isn't likely to any time soon.
Also, in order to master this particular tool, the student will be traveling in very
unusual territory, that is, you will be achieving levels of consciousness and awareness
that have the potential for accidentally revealing to us some mind expanding realizations,
some of which are life changing. You could be working on developing your abiltiy to
concentrate and suddenly find that you are not a physical being who has a spirit, but
a spiritual being that is temporarily taking physical form. You may realize that you
don't have a god, but that you are god. These kinds of revelations tend to change our
perceptions of reality. They scare the crap out of most people, who in order to protect
themselves from what they fear and don't understand, will go into denial and manipulate
their own perception of things, which ironically is done through the misuse of a form of
our own infinite power.
Throughout history many of the most successful individuals have spoken of the success formula which is usually a variation of 'desire, commitment, willingness to work, determination, patience and faith'. It could not be accidental that this is also a very close description of the characteristics that define the Human life form's potential for infinite power, because these are also the characteristics that make up our ability to develop the self discipline necessary to control the thoughts that our own mind produces, which determine virtually everything we experience in our lives There is little doubt that meditation is one of the most valuable tools we have available to us in our pursuit of any objective we choose. The objectives we choose will ultimatley depend on the level of courage we can attain, and while you are out there, you may want to explore the unknown territory of what it is to be a spiritual life form. A good introduction to meditation techniques is found here